Intel Xeon based system build for rendering in Maya!

[killswitch-core]

I am a 3D character modeler, and I use Maya+Vray, Keyshot, and Modo which uses CPU extensively for rendering. The system will not operate 24/7 though. My budget for this build is $2000-2500 give or take. I will reuse my existing hardware from my current system so all I need within the budget are the following items:

Processors: 2x Intel Xeon 2630 V3
Cooler: 2x Corsair h80i GT
RAM: ?
Mainboard: ?
PSU: ?
Casing: ?

Here's the PCPartPicker link: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/killswitch/saved/#view=KyBcCJ

I am having a hard time picking the right PSU, case, and the mainboard. Are mounting points for server boards different from desktop counterparts? I was hoping to reuse my existing ATX case from CoolerMaster, Exactly which board from Intel or Supermicro should I be looking at. I have almost always used Asus boards, and I am not familiar with Supermicro, but I hear good stuff regarding their boards.

 

[kanewolf]

To get 12 - 16 physical cores, you have to go to the E5-2xxx Xeons. A pair of E5-2630 v2 (6 core 2.4Ghz list price $615) would probably be the best price/performance. For OPTIMUM performance you want 8 identical DIMMs since these CPUs are quad channel and you want to populate both sockets. You will probably have to get ECC RAM.

 

[killswitch-core]

If I were to populate all 8 memory slots, then I wonder if I should for for 32GB instead. Me thinks 32GB is a bit of an overkill for rendering 3D modeling reels, no? Anyone who has better idea if more RAM will help directly or indirectly with rendering (both batch render, and real-time), please shed some light. I am not too sure about this so.

How about my current PSU, do you think it is sufficient enough? I will not be gaming as much and I always tend to get upper mid-range cards. Right now I am going to reuse my existing GTX 680 for all real time renders, in the future I might get GTX970 or 980. I never end up getting Quadro's because I do like to game a bit on my PC.

 

[killswitch-core]

Thanks for your advice kanewolf. Also, if anyone else like to chime in please do. I could really use your suggestions and insight.

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for your advice kanewolf. Also, if anyone else like to chime in please do. I could really use your suggestions and insight.

I guess nobody else has posted, because your original requirements don't leave many choices. I always recommend a genuine Intel motherboard when dealing with dual socket or more. If you don't go Intel, then Supermicro is probably next. I don't know if your H100i has mounting hardware for this socket. You will obviously need two coolers of some kind.

 

[killswitch-core]

Thanks for your advice kanewolf. Also, if anyone else like to chime in please do. I could really use your suggestions and insight.

I guess nobody else has posted, because your original requirements don't leave many choices. I always recommend a genuine Intel motherboard when dealing with dual socket or more. If you don't go Intel, then Supermicro is probably next. I don't know if your H100i has mounting hardware for this socket. You will obviously need two coolers of some kind.

Hi kanewolf, I am sorry I did not understand when you said the original requirements did not leave many choices. Do you mean the budget is not enough for the 5-6 items I listed? Or my description seemed vague? I changed the original post and made it simpler. I checked the Corsair website, and they sell separate mounting brackets for 2011, 2011-v3, etc. I have always built my desktop rigs and pretty familiar with that realm, but I am very new to the server side of things and not familiar what to look at when picking parts.

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for your advice kanewolf. Also, if anyone else like to chime in please do. I could really use your suggestions and insight.

I guess nobody else has posted, because your original requirements don't leave many choices. I always recommend a genuine Intel motherboard when dealing with dual socket or more. If you don't go Intel, then Supermicro is probably next. I don't know if your H100i has mounting hardware for this socket. You will obviously need two coolers of some kind.

Hi kanewolf, I am sorry I did not understand when you said the original requirements did not leave many choices. Do you mean the budget is not enough for the 5-6 items I listed? Or my description seemed vague? I changed the original post and made it simpler. I checked the Corsair website, and they sell separate mounting brackets for 2011, 2011-v3, etc. I have always built my desktop rigs and pretty familiar with that realm, but I am very new to the server side of things and not familiar what to look at when picking parts.

Your original post specified a number of cores, and Intel. There aren't too many choices that fit in your budget. It wasn't vague it was quite specific. I gave a proposed solution, for both CPU and motherboard. I noted that you probably would have to get ECC RAM and should get 8 sticks. That pretty much covers the compute part. Your motherboard choice will determine what form-factor it is. That will go into the case determination. I would do air cooling, since you have to have two CPUs cooled, etc ....

 

[killswitch-core]

Ah ok! I should have mentioned I wish to keep my current casing so ATX board would be great. I have to check if my current case supports E-ATX. I think the reason I am finding it a bit perplexing is that not many people on newegg or other sites have left behind reviews of the server boards, and parts as much as the desktop side of things. I could not find a proper 2630 v3 benchmark yet. Maybe because it is fairly new?

Any idea if Corsair TX 650W PSU is enough for this build or is there a way to find out how much I will need to keep the system stable?

 

[kanewolf]

650W would be on the low end. If you look at a commercial version of what you are doing (HP Z840) the smallest power supply they have is an 850W.

The V3 will be more expensive because of the DDR4 required. That is why I recommended the V2 CPU rather than the V3. DDR3 will be much more budget friendly. The V3 has more cores / socket than the V2 but the V2 still meets your total cores requirement.

 

[bambiboom]

I am a 3D character modeler, and I use Maya+Vray, Keyshot, and Modo which uses CPU extensively for rendering. The system will not operate 24/7 though. My budget for this build is $2000-2500 give or take. I will reuse my existing hardware from my current system so all I need within the budget are the following items:

Processors: 2x Intel Xeon 2630 V3
Cooler: 2x Corsair h80i GT
RAM: ?
Mainboard: ?
PSU: ?
Casing: ?

Here's the PCPartPicker link: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/killswitch/saved/#view=KyBcCJ

I am having a hard time picking the right PSU, case, and the mainboard. Are mounting points for server boards different from desktop counterparts? I was hoping to reuse my existing ATX case from CoolerMaster, Exactly which board from Intel or Supermicro should I be looking at. I have almost always used Asus boards, and I am not familiar with Supermicro, but I hear good stuff regarding their boards.

killswitch-core,

The Xeon E5-2630 v3 (8-core @ 2.4/ 3.2Ghz) is a good performer. On Passmark Performance test, the average CPU score is 12718 for a single CPU Rated No. 41 and a dual CPU is 18807 and No. 32. For comparison a dual E5-2630 v2 (6-core @ 2.6 / 3.1) scores 16168 and is No 42. On a budget a good choice as you can model on 3.2GHz and render on the 2.4GHz plus it uses DDR4-2133 and has a wider memory bandwidth.

For a motherboard, I suggest:

Supermicro X10DAi or X10DA-0 Dual LGA2011/ Intel C612/ DDR4/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&2GbE/ EATX Server Motherboard > $414

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/xeon/c600/x10dai.cfm
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X10DAX

These have a very useful arrangement of PCIe x16 slots- good for an SLI

Another excellent motherboard with very high performance is the ASUS Z10PE-D16 WS:

ASUS Z10PE-D16 WS LGA2011-v3/ Intel C612 PCH/ DDR4/ Quad CrossFireX & 3-Way SLI/ SATA3&USB3.0/ M.2/ A&V&2GbE/ EEB Server Motherboard > $490

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-10P16WS

or >

ASUS Z10PE-D8 WS LGA2011-v3/ Intel C612 PCH/ DDR4/ 4-Way CrossFireX & 4-Way SLI/ SATA3&USB3.0/ M.2&SATA Express/ A&V&2GbE/ EEB Server Motherboard > $540

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-10PD8WS

>expensive and EEB size but the important feature here is an M.2 slot- I'm convinced PCIe SSD's and espeically those with doubled lanes like M.2 are the future for workstations.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-10P16WS

On Passmark, a Dual E5-2630 v3 / ASUS Z10PE-D8 WS /64GB RAM /TItan X RAID 0 - probably a pair of 500GB+ SSDs:

Rating = 5565 / CPU= 21464 / 2D=818 / 3D = 10648 / Memory = 2227 Disk = 5466

A dual E5-2630 v3 / Supermicro X10DAi / 64GB RAM / Quadro K4200

Rating = 4876 / CPU= 20408 / 2D=712 / 3D = 4495 / Memory = 2129 Disk = 5725

The ASUS WS series does manage very good CPU performance

Another very good workstation board is the Intel S2600CW (SS-EEB) > $490, producing 20733 from a pair of the 2630's:

http://ark.intel.com/products/83027/Intel-Server-Board-S2600CW2
Intel DBS2600CW2 Dual LGA2011-v3/ Intel C610/ DDR4/ SATA3&USB3.0/ M.2/ V&2GbE/ SSI EEB Server Motherboard

> and I think that Intel boards are the highest quality construction of any with Supermicro second and ASUS very close. It's a pity that Intel is said to be easing out of the motherboard market as they are excellent quality.

RAM: Memory: 32GB (4x 8GB) Samsung DDR4-2133 8GB/1Gx72 ECC/REG CL15 Server Memory > $436 ($109ea.)

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D4218G4S1

I use 32GB in my main system not particularly that I have large files, but that I run so many simultantous large programs: AutoCad / Revit / Solidworks / Sketchup / Adobe CS / multiple browsers. I am currently learning Maya and can see that the files ican be immense, becuase of the all the polygons in textures nad I think running the viewports takes RAM as well. If you're having a dual CPU system, I see it it as, in effect having 16GB per CPU. It doesn't really work in that way, but is scalar to the overall system potential.

Case: Many dual CPU motherboards are E-ATX and actually I prefre it to have plenty of room for the RAM slots ot clear the CPU coolers- which can be larger, and more RAM slots- the Supermicro X10 has 16.

One approach I think might make a lot of sense for your system is to buy Supermicro Superworkstation:

Case /Motherboard /Power supply : Supermicro SuperWorkstation SYS-7038A-I Dual LGA2011 / Suprmicro X10DA / 900W Mid-Tower Workstation Barebone System (Black) > $663

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/tower/7038/SYS-7038A-i.cfm
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=SY-7038AI

This is barebones systems - with an X10DA motherboard, CPU coolers, and a 900w PSU-and these are server quality for continuous running, so you only need to plug in the CPU's RAM, GPU, and drives. This is much easier and faster than researching, ordering, assembling and then shifting parts from the old system. The cooling is also worked out and these are said to be very quiet. In this way, you can keep the old system working even while you're testing the new system. Then selling the old system can fund a better GPU. On the subject of GPU's, I believe it is quite important to be able to use Quadro drivers to support the viewports and higher anti-aliasing in Maya. If you look at Autodesk certified GPU's for MAYA:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=19&release=2015&os=8192&manuf=all&opt=2

> only the GTX 690 and Titan are on the list from the desktop /gaming world- all the rest are Quadros and Firepros.

For awhile I used special Solidworks drivers for all my visualization work (Quadro FX 4800) as I could run it at x128 anti-aliasing. Find a used K2200 for $320-350.

So:

2X Xeon E5-2630 v3 > $1240
Supermicro Superworkstation SYS-7038 > $663
32GB Samsung DDR4-2133 ECC > $436
Quadro K2200 (used) $325
___________________________________

TOTAL = $2664

It useful to compare this idea if buying all the parts separately:

2X Xeon E5-2630 v3 > $1240
Supermicro X10DAX-O Dual LGA2011/ Intel C612/ DDR4/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&2GbE/ EATX Server Motherboard > $415
2X Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler $152 ($77 Each)
32GB Samsung DDR4-2133 ECC > $436
Quadro K2200 (used) $325
SeaSonic X Series X-850 (SS-850KM3 Active PFC F3) 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire ___Ready 80 PLUS GOLD > $175
LIAN LI PC-A76WX Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case > $220
_____________________________________

TOTAL = $2963

So the barebones solution with the same specification saves costs and time.

You're adding quite a few hours to your working time during the transition by no having to order and assemble every part, plus having the fast, continuous use switch-over plus you recover something from the used system sale.

Sorry- very long post!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID 1)(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s)

 

[killswitch-core]

650W would be on the low end. If you look at a commercial version of what you are doing (HP Z840) the smallest power supply they have is an 850W.

The V3 will be more expensive because of the DDR4 required. That is why I recommended the V2 CPU rather than the V3. DDR3 will be much more budget friendly. The V3 has more cores / socket than the V2 but the V2 still meets your total cores requirement.

Makes sense, yeah I just checked the price versus performance. Plus, there are lot more motherboards already available for V2 than V3 at this point. Thank you so much for your the suggestions kanewolf. I will keep this in mind and continue researching.

 

[killswitch-core]

BambiBoom, wow! I will have to get back to you as soon as I read through this. Thank you so so much for taking the time to write an elaborate reply. I appreciate your time and thoughts. Expect my response as soon as I am done reading your post!

 

[Bossyfins]

Bambiboom is the master for workstations. Haha.
Personally, i'd wouldn't use h80gtxs for this rig. You could go 2 hyper 212s which would be fine.

 

[killswitch-core]

I am a 3D character modeler, and I use Maya+Vray, Keyshot, and Modo which uses CPU extensively for rendering. The system will not operate 24/7 though. My budget for this build is $2000-2500 give or take. I will reuse my existing hardware from my current system so all I need within the budget are the following items:

Processors: 2x Intel Xeon 2630 V3
Cooler: 2x Corsair h80i GT
RAM: ?
Mainboard: ?
PSU: ?
Casing: ?

Here's the PCPartPicker link: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/killswitch/saved/#view=KyBcCJ

I am having a hard time picking the right PSU, case, and the mainboard. Are mounting points for server boards different from desktop counterparts? I was hoping to reuse my existing ATX case from CoolerMaster, Exactly which board from Intel or Supermicro should I be looking at. I have almost always used Asus boards, and I am not familiar with Supermicro, but I hear good stuff regarding their boards.

killswitch-core,

The Xeon E5-2630 v3 (8-core @ 2.4/ 3.2Ghz) is a good performer. On Passmark Performance test, the average CPU score is 12718 for a single CPU Rated No. 41 and a dual CPU is 18807 and No. 32. For comparison a dual E5-2630 v2 (6-core @ 2.6 / 3.1) scores 16168 and is No 42. On a budget a good choice as you can model on 3.2GHz and render on the 2.4GHz plus it uses DDR4-2133 and has a wider memory bandwidth.

For a motherboard, I suggest:

Supermicro X10DAi or X10DA-0 Dual LGA2011/ Intel C612/ DDR4/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&2GbE/ EATX Server Motherboard > $414

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/xeon/c600/x10dai.cfm
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X10DAX

These have a very useful arrangement of PCIe x16 slots- good for an SLI

Another excellent motherboard with very high performance is the ASUS Z10PE-D16 WS:

ASUS Z10PE-D16 WS LGA2011-v3/ Intel C612 PCH/ DDR4/ Quad CrossFireX & 3-Way SLI/ SATA3&USB3.0/ M.2/ A&V&2GbE/ EEB Server Motherboard > $490

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-10P16WS

or >

ASUS Z10PE-D8 WS LGA2011-v3/ Intel C612 PCH/ DDR4/ 4-Way CrossFireX & 4-Way SLI/ SATA3&USB3.0/ M.2&SATA Express/ A&V&2GbE/ EEB Server Motherboard > $540

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-10PD8WS

>expensive and EEB size but the important feature here is an M.2 slot- I'm convinced PCIe SSD's and espeically those with doubled lanes like M.2 are the future for workstations.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-10P16WS

On Passmark, a Dual E5-2630 v3 / ASUS Z10PE-D8 WS /64GB RAM /TItan X RAID 0 - probably a pair of 500GB+ SSDs:

Rating = 5565 / CPU= 21464 / 2D=818 / 3D = 10648 / Memory = 2227 Disk = 5466

A dual E5-2630 v3 / Supermicro X10DAi / 64GB RAM / Quadro K4200

Rating = 4876 / CPU= 20408 / 2D=712 / 3D = 4495 / Memory = 2129 Disk = 5725

The ASUS WS series does manage very good CPU performance

Another very good workstation board is the Intel S2600CW (SS-EEB) > $490, producing 20733 from a pair of the 2630's:

http://ark.intel.com/products/83027/Intel-Server-Board-S2600CW2
Intel DBS2600CW2 Dual LGA2011-v3/ Intel C610/ DDR4/ SATA3&USB3.0/ M.2/ V&2GbE/ SSI EEB Server Motherboard

> and I think that Intel boards are the highest quality construction of any with Supermicro second and ASUS very close. It's a pity that Intel is said to be easing out of the motherboard market as they are excellent quality.

RAM: Memory: 32GB (4x 8GB) Samsung DDR4-2133 8GB/1Gx72 ECC/REG CL15 Server Memory > $436 ($109ea.)

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D4218G4S1

I use 32GB in my main system not particularly that I have large files, but that I run so many simultantous large programs: AutoCad / Revit / Solidworks / Sketchup / Adobe CS / multiple browsers. I am currently learning Maya and can see that the files ican be immense, becuase of the all the polygons in textures nad I think running the viewports takes RAM as well. If you're having a dual CPU system, I see it it as, in effect having 16GB per CPU. It doesn't really work in that way, but is scalar to the overall system potential.

Case: Many dual CPU motherboards are E-ATX and actually I prefre it to have plenty of room for the RAM slots ot clear the CPU coolers- which can be larger, and more RAM slots- the Supermicro X10 has 16.

One approach I think might make a lot of sense for your system is to buy Supermicro Superworkstation:

Case /Motherboard /Power supply : Supermicro SuperWorkstation SYS-7038A-I Dual LGA2011 / Suprmicro X10DA / 900W Mid-Tower Workstation Barebone System (Black) > $663

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/tower/7038/SYS-7038A-i.cfm
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=SY-7038AI

This is barebones systems - with an X10DA motherboard, CPU coolers, and a 900w PSU-and these are server quality for continuous running, so you only need to plug in the CPU's RAM, GPU, and drives. This is much easier and faster than researching, ordering, assembling and then shifting parts from the old system. The cooling is also worked out and these are said to be very quiet. In this way, you can keep the old system working even while you're testing the new system. Then selling the old system can fund a better GPU. On the subject of GPU's, I believe it is quite important to be able to use Quadro drivers to support the viewports and higher anti-aliasing in Maya. If you look at Autodesk certified GPU's for MAYA:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=19&release=2015&os=8192&manuf=all&opt=2

> only the GTX 690 and Titan are on the list from the desktop /gaming world- all the rest are Quadros and Firepros.

For awhile I used special Solidworks drivers for all my visualization work (Quadro FX 4800) as I could run it at x128 anti-aliasing. Find a used K2200 for $320-350.

So:

2X Xeon E5-2630 v3 > $1240
Supermicro Superworkstation SYS-7038 > $663
32GB Samsung DDR4-2133 ECC > $436
Quadro K2200 (used) $325
___________________________________

TOTAL = $2664

It useful to compare this idea if buying all the parts separately:

2X Xeon E5-2630 v3 > $1240
Supermicro X10DAX-O Dual LGA2011/ Intel C612/ DDR4/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&2GbE/ EATX Server Motherboard > $415
2X Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler $152 ($77 Each)
32GB Samsung DDR4-2133 ECC > $436
Quadro K2200 (used) $325
SeaSonic X Series X-850 (SS-850KM3 Active PFC F3) 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire ___Ready 80 PLUS GOLD > $175
LIAN LI PC-A76WX Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case > $220
_____________________________________

TOTAL = $2963

So the barebones solution with the same specification saves costs and time.

You're adding quite a few hours to your working time during the transition by no having to order and assemble every part, plus having the fast, continuous use switch-over plus you recover something from the used system sale.

Sorry- very long post!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID 1)(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s)

Bambiboom, thank you again for the thorough explanation. You are right, for me the barebone system is a huge huge time saver, saves me from headache, and saves a lot of money in the process. I had no idea about barebones until now. At work now, can't wait to go home and do some research on these techs.

Oh, if I buy 32GB worth memory sticks should I populate all 8 slots with identical 8GB? Or can I leave some slots empty if I plan to add 32GB more down the line. This is just a question out of curiosity. How much performance is affected or I am missing out if these are not installed in a specific way to take advantage of the quad channels? I am assuming this is all about efficiency?

 

[kanewolf]

The potential problem with not populating DIMMs for each processor is that one processor is at a disadvantage for EVERY memory access. It has to go across the QPI bus and have the other CPU access the RAM. With DIMMs in the slots associated with each processor, then each CPU has equal probability access to RAM. What the performance penalty is, I don't have a quantification. But architecturally, it is a bad design to purposefully handicap one socket.

 

[bambiboom]

"Bambiboom, thank you again for the thorough explanation. You are right, for me the barebone system is a huge huge time saver, saves me from headache, and saves a lot of money in the process. I had no idea about barebones until now. At work now, can't wait to go home and do some research on these techs.

Oh, if I buy 32GB worth memory sticks should I populate all 8 slots with identical 8GB? Or can I leave some slots empty if I plan to add 32GB more down the line. This is just a question out of curiosity. How much performance is affected or I am missing out if these are not installed in a specific way to take advantage of the quad channels? I am assuming this is all about efficiency?"

killswitch-core,

Yes, I think a Supermicro Superworkstation make a lot of sense and may be my next system. At the moment though, my current HP z420 is perfectly adequate since I primarily a designer and not draughtman. The Quadro K4200 may be surplus to my needs- it responds much faster than I can make decisions!

As for the RAM in dual CPU system- and for workstations in general, there is a definite sequence and pattern of adding RAM, and this will be specified in the manual. these systems are noticeably sensitive to these sequences. I had an HP z420 (Xeon E5-1620) and when I had a proper sequence but asymmetrical set that totaled 24GB -4X 4GB + 4X 2GB, I saw that there were a number of system on Passmark with 16GB that produced better memory scores- probably 4X 4GB. Generally the larger modules in the first slots, the priority of sets of 4 and so on. If you have a dual CPU motherboard but start ith a single CPU there is, as far as I know no need to populate the slots relating to the 2nd CPU as there is no CPU cores to which the memory can be addressed. However, when there is a 2nd CPU, continue the pattern and sequence. which will be symmentrical. The best strategy is to plan in advance the total RAM you'll end up with- which I suggest might be 64GB but certainly a minimum of 32GB.

Yes. let us know how you progress- an interesting project.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 

[killswitch-core]

So after a month of use, here is my review of the my current build. Thanks to all of you guys and especially bambiboom, I am uber happy with my current setup. I know, I should have gotten a Supermicro mainboard, but I could not find a Supermicro board with ATX form factor so that I can install it in my existing casing. So ended up getting a Asus board, which is ok (so far). My recommendation after installing and over a month of use is for a dual cpu system avoid ATX, go for a larger board and make sure the cpu sockets have some amount of space between them if you plan to install large cpu heatsinks+fan. I freaked out after installing the fans to notice it was completely blocking some of my RAM slots. The huge metal heatsinks seemed in the way, but luckily the gap was wide enough for the RAM sticks to be installed without any issue. Again, keep an eye out for this sort of issue. Also the mainboard did not come with any built-in audio card and I presumed every mainboard (including server boards) come with their own audio device these days. I was wrong. I was so mad at myself for not being thorough before purchasing. I had to go to a local store the next day and buy a off-the-shelf audio card from Asus. I did not want to send back the board and wait another week for a new one to come back and having to setup everything all over again would be a waste of my time.

Here's what I ended up getting for 3D Modeling and Rendering workstation

2x Intel Xeon 2630 V3 CPU (OEM)
2x Noctua NH-U12DXi4 120mm CPU Cooler
Asus Z10PA-D8 Mainboard
32GB (8x4GB) Crucial 2133 DDR4 RAM
Corsair 850CX (Fully Modular) PSU
EVGA GTX 980Ti 6GB GPU

My recommendation as a 3D Modeler/Render artist:

More core the better if you use CPU based rendering. jumping from my last quad core (8 threads) system to the 16 core (32 threads) significantly improved my workflow. Something that took me over 1 hour to render now takes me just over 7 minutes!!! Wow!

GPU rendering works great if you do not have any texture maps or displacement maps in your scene. Great for real time preview though. If you have a lot of large texture files and using displacement or sub-surface scattering it takes the 980Ti quite sometime to load everything in it's memory before it can spit out any real-time preview. I was not sold, now I use 980 for scenes that do not use textures and for painting in Mari. I would invest more in CPU cores at this point if I could.

In the end, I can say I am very happy with this investment, as my workflow and productivity jumped up significantly and the system is very stable and handles anything I throw at it. Advice to other 3d artist, do not waste your money on quad-core or six core like I did - directly jump to 16 core or more if you can afford it. You will see drastic improvements in your workflow. I should have done this from the word - GO!

 

[bambiboom]

So after a month of use, here is my review of the my current build. Thanks to all of you guys and especially bambiboom, I am uber happy with my current setup. I know, I should have gotten a Supermicro mainboard, but I could not find a Supermicro board with ATX form factor so that I can install it in my existing casing. So ended up getting a Asus board, which is ok (so far). My recommendation after installing and over a month of use is for a dual cpu system avoid ATX, go for a larger board and make sure the cpu sockets have some amount of space between them if you plan to install large cpu heatsinks+fan. I freaked out after installing the fans to notice it was completely blocking some of my RAM slots. The huge metal heatsinks seemed in the way, but luckily the gap was wide enough for the RAM sticks to be installed without any issue. Again, keep an eye out for this sort of issue. Also the mainboard did not come with any built-in audio card and I presumed every mainboard (including server boards) come with their own audio device these days. I was wrong. I was so mad at myself for not being thorough before purchasing. I had to go to a local store the next day and buy a off-the-shelf audio card from Asus. I did not want to send back the board and wait another week for a new one to come back and having to setup everything all over again would be a waste of my time.

Here's what I ended up getting for 3D Modeling and Rendering workstation

2x Intel Xeon 2630 V3 CPU (OEM)
2x Noctua NH-U12DXi4 120mm CPU Cooler
Asus Z10PA-D8 Mainboard
32GB (8x4GB) Crucial 2133 DDR4 RAM
Corsair 850CX (Fully Modular) PSU
EVGA GTX 980Ti 6GB GPU

My recommendation as a 3D Modeler/Render artist:

More core the better if you use CPU based rendering. jumping from my last quad core (8 threads) system to the 16 core (32 threads) significantly improved my workflow. Something that took me over 1 hour to render now takes me just over 7 minutes!!! Wow!

GPU rendering works great if you do not have any texture maps or displacement maps in your scene. Great for real time preview though. If you have a lot of large texture files and using displacement or sub-surface scattering it takes the 980Ti quite sometime to load everything in it's memory before it can spit out any real-time preview. I was not sold, now I use 980 for scenes that do not use textures and for painting in Mari. I would invest more in CPU cores at this point if I could.

In the end, I can say I am very happy with this investment, as my workflow and productivity jumped up significantly and the system is very stable and handles anything I throw at it. Advice to other 3d artist, do not waste your money on quad-core or six core like I did - directly jump to 16 core or more if you can afford it. You will see drastic improvements in your workflow. I should have done this from the word - GO!

killswitch-core,

Thanks for the update. The new system seem to have worked out well and having rendering time reduced by 80%+ tells the whole story about the usefulness of many cores. The ATX format is crowded for dual CPU's and I like the idea of 16 RAM slots, but ASUS does seem to get good performance. The top rated Asus Z10PA-D8 system on Passmark using 2X E5-2630 V3 / GTX 980 ti has a rating of 5030 with a CPU score of 19439 and 2D of 600 and 3D of 9978. A Supermicro X10DAi with Quadro K4200 / 64GB / Samsung 850 has a score of 4876 with a CPU score of 20408. With a single E5-2630 V3 and GTX 980 ti, an X10DA system produces a 2D score of 699 and a 3D of 10600.

I fussed with GPU rendering, but only briefly. They were very fast but I never had a rendering I could use- the color gradients were crude, particles, shadows, and reflections seemed flat and lifeless and there were sometimes subtle artifacts- tiny vertical lines. This was on a 2008- Precision T5400 ( 2X Xeon X5460 4-core @ 3.16GHz / 16GB DD2-667 / Quadro FX 4800 / WD RE4. The results though on CPU rendering were very good and that led to the upgraded $171 Precision T5500 (2011). As I have a rendering binge for a large project coming up in about a month- probably 35-40 in Sketchup / Vray, it's time to add the 2nd 6-core Xeon to the old Precision T5500 and that will provide 12 cores / 24 threads at 3.33/ 3.6GHz.

What drives did you end up using?

Do you have a website / online portfolio?

Cheers,

BambiBoom


Rendering System:

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Original): Xeon E5620 quad core @ 2.4 / 2.6 GHz > 6GB DDR3 ECC Reg 1333 > Quadro FX 580 (512MB) > Dell PERC 6/i SAS /SATA controller > Seagate Cheetah 15K 146GB > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1479 / CPU = 4067 / 2D= 520 / 3D= 311 / Mem= 1473 / Disk= 1208]


Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card 875W PSU > Logitech z313> Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15

with Quadro K4200:
[ Passmark system rating = 3585 / CPU = 9346 / 2D= 683 / 3D= 4708 / Mem= 1850 / Disk= 2202]

With Quadro 4000
[ Passmark system rating = 3339 / CPU = 9347 / 2D= 684 / 3D= 2030 / Mem= 1871 / Disk= 2234]

Pending upgrades:

1. PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID
(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s)

2. Add CPU /Memory riser . 2nd Xeon X5680

 

[james211]

How much did this end up costing you? Would you have done anything different? I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Right now I use a Mac Pro and 6-cores just isn't cutting it.

 

[bambiboom]

How much did this end up costing you? Would you have done anything different? I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Right now I use a Mac Pro and 6-cores just isn't cutting it.

james211,

I'm not sure if you're asking killswitch-core about his new system or about the upgraded used Precision T5500, but in the case of the T5500, the original system cost $171 with shipping $193 on Ebay in Feb. 2015. I was very lucky as this system was immaculate inside and out- like new- many are quite ropey-looking.

Original System: $193
CPU: Xeon X5680: $230.
RAM: 24GB: $110
Quadro K2200: This was left over when changing to a Quadro K4200 in my HP z420. Value about $300
Samsung 840 240GB: This was left over when changing the SSD in the Z420 to an Intel 730 480GB. Value about $60
WD RE4 1TB: $75
M-Audio 192 sound card: $40
Windows 7 Professional: $0
_______________________
TOTAL: about $1,050

A 2nd CPU riser board costs about $70-100.

If I did this again, I think I would start with a Precision T7500 as they have 4 drive bays instead of essentially 2. I would like to have a RAID 1 for the storage, but in the T5500 it will have to be in the front 5.25" bay. They also have 1100W PSU and can support 192GB of RAM instead of 96GB. I might also opt for the X5690 6-core @ 3.47 /3.73GHz instead of the X5680, but it's only +150MHz and probably the same experientially.

The way I use this kind of system is to have a fast system for modeling and the second, inexpensive system with more cores, can sit off to the side and run renderings. These systems are also useful to receive hand-me-down hardware when the fast system is upgraded.

If you prefer new and your budget is more in the range of killswitch-core- about $2,500, you might consider:

Supermicro SuperWorkstation SYS-7037A-i (Black) > $733

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/tower/7037/SYS-7037A-i.cfm

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=SY-737AI

And to this barebones system, you just plug in the CPU's, RAM, GPU, and drives. I like this version as it allows using Xeon E5-2600 v2 series. Besides the possibility of used CPU's, and DDR3- 1866 being cheaper than DDR4-2133 and with a lower latency, the v2 series CPU's have some better core /clock speed versions. Perhaps two of these:

Intel Xeon E5-2650 V2 > sold for $422.

E5-2650V2 8 cores /16/threads @ 2.6 / 3.4GHz

http://ark.intel.com/products/75269/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2650-v2-20M-Cache-2_60-GHz

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-E5-2650V2-/111745709207?hash=item1a04903497%3Ag%3AemsAAOSwMmBV0Ub4&nma=true&si=HSU2jF9FbGF1O80D8K7pDOyB4Os%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

On Passmark, dual E5-2650 v2 systems average a CPU score of 19398 and is ranked No. 32 in dual CPU's. For comparison the E5-2630 v3 (8-core @ 2.4 /3.2, about $620) scores 18575 and is No. 34. I like the E5-2650 v2 as the first two cores run at 3.4Ghz and that is a good speed for modeling and the 2.6 will run renderings well.

Start with 32GB of 1866 RAM in 8GB modules

Then, add a Quadro M4000 (8GB) > about $890

> and drives.

Probably about $2,700 or so.

So, there's a couple of options- Perhaps you were asking a different person a different question!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 

[killswitch-core]

How much did this end up costing you? Would you have done anything different? I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Right now I use a Mac Pro and 6-cores just isn't cutting it.

Hey, over two years ago I bought a quad-core instead if 6 core and that cost me 2k for the entire system. That was my budget. I shud not have wasted my time and money on that system. I am forced to upgrade to Xeon based system now which cost me 3k for 2x xeon cpu, main board, ram, cooler and gpu. and if I could I would follow the solution posted by bambiboom. We do not need quadro, as we barely use the double precision in them for the stuff we do. Gtx 980 or Titan is the way to go if you do gpu based rendering. If I could I would heavily invest in even more CPU cores. And get a fat SSD, they will make a world of difference when caching large texture files and videos. More cores with slower clock speed are better than few cores with higher clock speed. But this is dependent on the softwares you use. For my line of work more the core the better and faster the performance.

 

[james211]

Thank you killswitch and bambiboom. I'm currently running a mac pro trash can with a 6 core xeon processor. I'm just starting out and finding that since mental ray doesn't use GPU for rendering, it chugs on heavily lit scenes. Eventually I'll have to come up with a solution. I'm probably going to look into doing a networked render machine as I don't have space for another setup. Just need to do the research and figure out what works. Its just really frustrating at the moment.

If either of you have a moment, would you mind chiming in on my initial question here - http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2862203/maya-2016-hardware-advice.html

 

[james211]

I can't answer all your questions, but I do know with my supermicro X9DAI board, I had to drill two holes in my case as three of the mounting holes didn't line up. One of the holes I couldn't even get a drill in there so I just left it.

As far as the new board fitting into the current case, and I'm new to all this, but I believe if the form factor of your board and case match up you should be good.